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Animated Atrocities 13/Re-Review Transcript
Mr. Enter: 'In the original review of this episode, I was ''way too angry. This episode doesn't deserve anger; digust is a more appropriate reaction. And needless to say, it took on themes that I wasn't yet ready to deal with so early on; it was only my 13th Animated Atrocity. Over the years, my reaction to "The Splinter" has wained, but my reaction of disgust to this episode is just as strong as ever. Also, in the original review, I only seemed to focus on the elephant in the room. While that is a problem and probably the biggest problem in any episode of Spongebob, we're going to talk about the rest of the episode first without referring to that particular moment, or at least as much as possible. I'll still be referring to it in its relation to the rest of the plot. This episode starts with some Krabs versus Plankton stuff that is rather typical, although bubbles are usually a Spongebob thing, and it's odd seeing Plankton use them. He's only stopped when Pearl comes around, driving Plankton into a panic. He's afraid that Pearl will eat him, and I have many, many problems with this. Remember my review of "Are You Happy Now?", I said that continuity or no, it would be impossible to believe that Squidward had never had a happy memory in his entire life. It's the same deal here. I cannot believe that Plankton has never been around Pearl before. He even refers to Pearl as Krabs's daughter... so he knew that she existed. Why has something like this never happened before? Then there's that other thing where it's totally legal and okay for Bikini Bottomites to eat each other. I know what you're gonna say: "we've seen things like in "The Fry Cook Games" where the audience was turned into fish-sticks and sold." Here's the thing: that was a joke. Stuff like this is joke material, and using joke material for a crucial plot point is a mistake. Many of the jokes on Spongebob work because they're so detached from reality or logic. You can't do that with a plot point or it becomes a major distraction, especially when the jokes don't actually manage to distract you in the least, and it's highly disturbing that Pearl has eaten Plankton before. Jokes like those are usually okay in small doses, but not when the entire plot explores the themes of them in-depth. This would be like if "The Fry Cook Games" was about Bikini Bottomites happily buying and selling those fish-stick people and Mr. Krabs ending the games just to make a quick buck on the fish-stick people. And that brings us to Mr. Krabs. One of the biggest defences this episode gets is that Plankton, somehow,'' deserves this treatment. Plankton frequently threatens to kills people and take over the world. Y-you know what, it just occurred to me... Plankton is actually the villain of the show! There's a reason the Batman doesn't end up killing the Joker. Mr. Krabs is supposed to be the good guy, or at least, on the good side, even in this particular episode. At one point, they may have tried to write a "hero goes too far" story, but that's not what this ended up as. Mr. Krabs torments Plankton into a suicidal depression and gets away with because... he's the good guy, apparently. This doesn't work because of the way the episode is structured. Do you know why classic cartoons can get away with beating the antagonist senselessly and with whatever? It's usually because the antagonist is trying to ''eat the protagonist, and the protagonist is just trying to stay alive. If Plankton kept trying to continually attack Mr. Krabs in this episode, that'd be one thing, but he only does it once, and spends the rest of the episode panicking in fear. Not helping is the fact that Karen is a heartless bitch about what is a very real problem to Plankton. Is there anything that Plankton could've done in this episode to make him deserve what he got, in cartoon terms? Not in real life, in real life, nobody deserves this treatment. Honestly, even in the cartoon, I don't think so, because driving someone to suicide is one of the cruellest things that you can do, and it's really hard to make something cruel, especially that cruel, funny. Even The Simpsons ''dropped the ball on this one. Spongebob may have had a "good nature" at one point, but that doesn't explain why he's in this episode ''at all. He reveals where Mr. Krabs's safe is... to which Plankton never gets to; it's not onscreen once. Also, if you want to put continuity back into this, Plankton should know where the safe is and where the formula is by now, meaning that this could very well be one of their first appearances and one of their first conflicts. But continuity doesn't exist, remember? Mr. Krabs drives someone who tries to steal from him to suicide, like it's the middle-ages or something. Does Spongebob do anything else in the episode? Not really. He ends up telling Mr. Krabs Plankton is suicidal and shames him... but then ends up putting Mr. Krabs in a position of victory, where Mr. Krabs was already. Spongebob himself makes no impact on the story and he shouldn't be here. If Plankton had managed to win in the end, then Spongebob would've had a purpose. Even Karen has more relevance here. Her contribution of driving Plankton further into panic isn't a good contribution, but it's at least something. Then there's the ending. For some reason, they wanted to have Mr. Krabs win this episode. Yeah, I get it, that's the formula or Mr. Krabs versus Plankton episodes... actually, no. They're missing a key ingredient here; the secret ingredient. You see, the secret ingredient is to have Plankton fail of his own fault. And no, believing Spongebob who is "good natured and highly moral" is not Plankton's fault. For example, in "Chum Bucket Supreme" he loses completely because he, of his own volition, insulted his customers. Okay, I'll give this episode the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it thought that the exploiting someone's fears for their own sick kicks is immoral and wrong... you know, like Mr. Krabs does for 90% of it. This episode doesn't seem to understand that both the hero and villain are under the same system of morality. That's the basics of writing! It's what makes the protagonist the protagonist and the antagonist the antagonist. They call this protagonist-centred morality, and it's a very rookie mistake. It's pretty much the main failings of Breadwinners, Teen Titans Go! and most of what I actually review. You cannot get away with this, even in a comedy show. Why is that? Well, this type of episode is supposed to trigger a normal human reaction called "schadenfreude". It's basically the good feeling you get when you see someone get hurt. You don't get this feeling when you see an innocent get hurt or you see a monster doing the harming. You get this feeling when someone has done something immoral and gets promptly punished for it. It can trigger a sense of karma, justice or humour; and yes, that's why media like games or television are a necessary part of our society and our lives. I don't care if the episode calls Plankton a villain; in this episode, he's not a villain. I mean, if he actually got away with the formula in beginning, that'd be one thing, but he tried and he failed. Meanwhile, Mr. Krabs tried and succeeded to do something villainous. Now that the rest of the episode is outta way, let's talk about that itsy-bisty one moment where Plankton attempts to commit suicide by being run over by a bus. Let's start by deciding if having a blatant suicide attempt should be a plot point, not a joke, a plot point,'' in a kids show. The first thing you're probably going to bring up is the ''Looney Tunes. ''clips from "Life With Feathers"...'' "They got away with stuff like this." ''"All This And Rabbit Stew"...'' Yeah, well, they also got away with stuff like this. ''"Life With Feathers" again'' Our values and what we see as acceptable or unacceptable change over time for better or worse. If you made Pepe Le Pew today, you'd be admonished for creating a rapist in a cartoon. Just because it was okay at one point, doesn't mean that it's okay at all points. Why would a cartoon character attempting to commit suicide like this be acceptable at one point and not acceptable now? Because our knowledge of mental illness and our respect for the issue has expanded greatly in the last twenty years alone. That's why it was hated, even when The Simpsons tried pulling this stunt. ''picture of The Simpsons - "The Boys Of Bummer"'' And that episode was structured a lot better, the morality was centred correctly, and the show was more appropriate for the subject matter. Not helping "One Coarse Meal" is the fact of how realistically paranoia, depression and suicide is displayed here. Being stalked is a real reason that people commit suicide. Fourteen days isn't as cartoonish-ly a short time as the writers thought. And being run over is a real way that people try to kill themselves. Even if we assume that this was a South Park script rewritten with Spongebob characters in it, it still wouldn't work. If the timespan of how Plankton got depressed was, I don't know, fourteen minutes it would be closer. If Plankton was paranoid because of, I don't know, a tomato or something innocuous, you'd be closer instead of something clearly established as a natural predator; something he has a very real reason to be afraid of. If Plankton tried to kill himself by doing something that clearly wouldn't work, it would still be closer to what the writers were going for. Just because we've seen him run over before doesn't change the intention that Plankton wanted to kill himself this time. Nothing about this is silly or funny in the slightest. Let me describe the plot of this episode: Plankton is driven into a paranoid by someone. His appearance at the end of it isn't cartoon-ishly silly, it's sad and depressing. During this time, he's mocked viciously by his wife, for having legitimate feelings. He attempts to commit suicide. This revelation is heard happily by the guy who drove him to do it, who gets off scot-free in the end, because he's supposedly the good guy. I'm not pulling any of this out of my ass or reinterpreting things, this is literally what happens in the episode. Y-and you know what, we're full circle. I was too kind on this episode when I called any episode worse. Now that it's fresh in my mind, those old feelings are rekindled. This is the only episode of Spongebob that's managed to legitimately offend me. Not make me angry or gross me out or annoy me. This episode offends me. It takes a very serious mental illness and mocks it, and rewards the people who mock it. That's what I mean, when I say this episode disgusts me. "Oh, look at that guy who wants to kill himself; laugh at him!" It's not like "look at the guy who wants to kills himself by watching a stupid television show", it's not like "look at the guy wants to kills himself, because he stubbed his toe, it's "look at the guy who wants to kill himself, by getting run over by a bus after endlessly being stalked and harassed for Two. Tiring. Weeks." ''Viacom. Bleh.' Category:Animated Atrocities Category:Season 1 Category:SpongeBob SquarePants Category:Transcripts Category:Spongebob